Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of her Department's asylum caseworkers are trained in how to treat evidence from the Medico-Legal Report service when making asylum decisions from people who claim to have been tortured in their home country.

All members of staff who make decisions in asylum, receive training on inter-national and domestic law and safeguarding issues supplemented by a men-toring programme with an experienced caseworker that can last up to 6 months. Within this course there are specific sections that detail torture and Medico Legal Reports and how they should be used and analysed in asylum claims.

Asylum Operations recently received funding from the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund to review and redevelop its training prospectus. As part of that work, Asylum Operations is liaising with a range of external stakeholders -including migrant charities and non-governmental organisations - to ensure a robust and effective safeguarding training product.